The Observation Deck

Yes if it does fail they will find the money somewhere. Unfortunately we the taxpayers will still have to pay it. The lease agreements all 3 teams have state that the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have to pay for upgrades. So if the sin tax expires and money has to come from the general fund then massive cuts will have to be made in city and county services.

Yes on the sintax renewal

Unfortunately, our previous Mayor, the Country Commissioners and the Governor of the State of Ohio got us roped into a no-win situation with financing of the Browns stadiumj

We can't go back in time and fix the contract that heavily favors the Cleveland Browns

Sure, we can be principled and say NO .... but what happens down the road when real reapairs are needed...where will the money come from? Yes you guessed it, the General Fund.

From my perspective, saying No is not the wisest move.
I'm voting yes.

It is not a choice between sin tax and general fund as the supporters would like people to believe. There are many options available for funding the requirements including a ticket tax which would make the most sense as only the people using the facilities would be paying for them and not all the other taxpayers. (Even if it were coming from the gen fund, that would be fairer than just getting it from smokers, drinkers and their associated establishments. And for the record, I don't smoke and barely drink.)

It is hardly an absurdity to place before the voters a tax that most of them believe will be paid by someone else. Since so few of us smoke, or admit to heavy use of alcohol, the political calculation says advance a tax on those who do, just as a school board needing funding will threaten to end popular activities, such as sports, rather than activities not having a lot of support, such as foreign language instruction, to get the votes they need.

The absurdity here is the assertion that entertainers (I include athletes in that group) do not provide services; they provide entertainment. And almost all of us want some entertainment, so we do what we must to placate those who provide our entertainment.

Here is an archived video of Tuesday's City Club discussion of the topic.
It features many of the principal players.
Nick Castele, the young fellow who moderated, is a Lakewood native.

http://www.ideastream.org/cityclub/entry/60780

This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the
purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes
not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the
County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce
anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the
dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute
tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is
enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating
passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing
the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons
of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel,
railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing
that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone
discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which
it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those
who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of
wealth I don’t know what is.

The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will
not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”}
but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to
pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time
{under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this
time...not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the
proponents on this one and we don't care if the teams up and go somewhere
else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there
are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that
comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other
ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking
political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that
this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the
time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked
this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced.
Let the battle be joined.


And now to the real underlying issue at hand:


One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the
misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers.
Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host,
team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted,
they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and
tribulations as did the jesters in the king's court during the middle ages.
But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the
expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable.
They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?

Our society is also subjected to the "profound wisdom" of these people
because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this
problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling
infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed,
clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this
undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped
from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.

The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to
adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment
above everything else; isn't it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think
this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when
entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.

vote no

Vote no on the sin tax extension.

Support the ticket tax.

I received an automated call from mayor mike summers over the weekend reminding everyone to vote for issue 7. Will this help or hurt issue 7? It confirmed to me that I should be voting against it.

Any thoughts?

Ryan Salo wrote:I received an automated call from mayor mike summers over the weekend reminding everyone to vote for issue 7. Will this help or hurt issue 7? It confirmed to me that I should be voting against it. [Emphasis added.]

Any thoughts?

Ryan,

Well, since you asked.

Whenever I hear that Mike Summers is behind something, the following song always jumps to my mind:





Matt

Oppose the Sin Tax.

Support the Ticket Tax.

[quote="Bill Call"]Oppose the Sin Tax.

Support the Ticket Tax.[/quote]

I wasn't aware a ticket tax was on the ballot

"I wasn't aware a ticket tax was on the ballot"

Perhaps not technically, but it's certainly part of the equation. I am voting no on the sin tax renewal as I feel it should be replaced with a ticket/facility fee/tax. Just because the schmucks in charge decided to offer up only a yes or no renewal plan, it doesn't mean we don't have a lot more options.

sell the stadiums

It's funny, not one person I know is voting for the sin tax renewal, yet I get the sagging feeling that it will pass anyway. People always buy into the scare tactics.